1973 Polish Rally

The 1973 Polish Rally, formally known as the 33rd Polish Rally, was the seventh round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Held in mid-July in southern Poland, , this event marked the only year in which Poland, or any member of the Warsaw Pact, was included in the WRC calendar until 2009, 36 years later. This edition is also notable for the fact that out of the 62 teams that started the rally, only three completed it, a record that still stands today.

1973 Polish Rally 33rd Polish Rally
Round 7 of the 1973 World Rally Championship season ← Previous event Next event →
Host country	Poland
Rally base	Kraków, Poland
Dates run	12 July 1973 – 15 July 1973
Stages	55 (734 km; 456 miles)
Stage surface	Asphalt and gravel
Overall distance	3,912 km (2,431 miles)
Statistics
Crews	62 at start, 3 at finish
Overall results
Overall winner	Achim Warmbold Jean Todt Fiat Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye

Report

In 1973, and for several subsequent years, points were only awarded to manufacturers for their finishes in WRC events. Despite the misfortune experienced by most teams, Fiat secured its first win for the Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye. Since no other major competitors finished the rally, Fiat's win was by a significant margin, with the German driver outpacing the next finisher by nearly three hours.

Results

1973 Polish Rally results

Finish		Total time	Group	Car #	Driver Co-driver	Car	Mfr. points
Overall	In group
1	1	8 h : 28 m : 14 s	4	4	Achim Warmbold Jean Todt	Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye	20
2	1	11 h : 15 m : 16 s	2	91	Egon Culmbacher Werner Ernst	Wartburg 353	15
3	1	12 h : 8 m : 31 s	1	55	Maciej Stawowiak Jan Czyżyk	Polski Fiat 125p	12
Retired (Excluded)			4	2	Jean-Luc Thérier Alain Mahé	Alpine Renault A110 1800
Retired (Oil Pressure)			4	3	Alcide Paganelli Ninni Russo	Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye
Retired (Accident)			4	7	Adam Smorawiński Zbigniew Kołaczkowski	Porsche 911
Retired (Time limit exceeded)			2	12	Hans Britth Magnus Olsson	Ford Capri 2600
Retired (Desistant)			2	18	Janusz Wojtyna Romana Wojtyna	BMW 2002 Ti
Retired (Desistant)			2	20	Henryk Kaczmarczyk Miecyzsław Banaś	Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (Water pump)			2	21	Marian Bień Wiesław Nicieja	Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (Desistant)			2	22	Ewald Pauli Jacek Jurczak	Volkswagen Käfer 1302 S
Retired (Time limit exceeded)			2	23	Jerzy Dobrzański Antoni Ryniak	Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (Accident)			2	24	Stasys Brundza Anatoli Brum	Moskvich 412
Retired (Desistant)			2	25	Andrzej Turczyński Leon Grzybek	Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (Tailgate joint)			2	26	Ryszard Żyszkowski Jerzy Żyszkowski	Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (Desistant)			2	27	Horst Rausch Jerzy Sypniewski	BMW 2002
Retired (Desistant)			2	28	András Tar Ferenc Simon	Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (Desistant)			2	30	Dieter Rosenfeldt Hans Herff	Renault 12 Gordini
Retired (Desistant)			2	31	Kastytis Girdauskas Arvydas Girdauskas	Moskvich 412
Retired (Rear differential)			2	34	Krzysztof Komornicki Błażej Krupa	Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (Desistant)			2	35	Jerzy Landsberg Marian Wangrat	Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (time)			2	36	Lev Morozov Andris Kalnais	Moskvich 412
Retired (Desistant)			2	37	Poul Weinreich Holger Møllen-Nielsen	Opel Ascona 1.6 SR
Retired (Desistant)			1	42	Oluf Vester Kristensen Holm-Per Sandager	Volvo 142 GL
Retired (Desistant)			2	43	Jan Dziedzic Wiesław Pieprzak	Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (Desistant)			1	44	Carl Marius Syberg Per Brøns	Opel Ascona
Retired (Desistant)			1	45	Klaus Miersch Winfried Matter	Opel Ascona 1.9 SR
Retired (Desistant)			1	46	Christian Köthe Inga Köthe	Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV
Retired (Desistant)			1	47	Jens Schmidt Adolf Holm	BMW 2002 Ti
Retired (Accident)			1	49	Heino Sepp Toomas Bernstein	Moskvich 412
Retired (Desistant)			1	50	Jacques Régis Chantal Argeliès	Opel Ascona
Retired (Misdirection)			1	51	Włodzimierz Markowski Andrzej Radecki	Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (Desistant)			1	52	Edmund Oprocha Andrzej Orłowski	Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (Desistant)			1	53	Detelin Tomov Peitcho Peitchev	Lada VAZ 2103
Retired (Desistant)			1	54	Jens Erik Esbensen Villy Ebbesen	Datsun 1600 SSS
Retired (Time limit exceeded)			1	57	Evert Wesström Bo Carlsson	Toyota Corolla
Retired (Desistant)			2	61	Andrzej Gergovich Robert Jenner	SEAT 850 D
Retired (Desistant)			2	62	Nikolai Vringov Lambo Mitzev	Lada VAZ 2101
Retired (Suspension)			1	63	Marek Varisella Janina Jedynak	Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (Desistant)			2	64	Horst Hohlheimer Rudolf Huber	Fiat 128 Sport Coupé
Retired (Desistant)			2	65	Aleksander Adamski Andrzej Brzeziński	Škoda 100 L
Retired (Desistant)			2	66	Nikolai Kamburov Kamen Kokinov	Renault 8
Retired (Desistant)			2	67	Pál Gaál Ferenc Iriczfalvi	Škoda 100
Retired (Desistant)			2	68	Mihály Balatoni István Sándor	Škoda 100
Retired (Desistant)			2	69	Karlfried Weigert Bernhard Malsch	Wartburg 353
Retired (Breakdown)			2	70	Peter Hommel Günter Bork	Wartburg 353
Retired (Accident)			2	71	Stanisław Fiedor Jacek Chmielewski	Trabant P601
Retired (Desistant)			2	72	Jürgen Sparwald Carl-Ulrich Karsten	Wartburg 353
Retired (Desistant)			2	73	Marek Oryński Kazimierz Bocheński	FSO Syrena 104
Retired (Desistant)			2	74	Zbigniew Baran Julian Kuzaj	FSO Syrena 104
Retired (Desistant)			2	75	Claes Anderson Peter Peterson	Ford Escort Twin Cam
Retired (Desistant)			2	76	Vasile Olaru Ilie Olteanu	Dacia 1300
Retired (Desistant)			2	77	Petre Vezeanu Mircea Ilioale	Dacia 1300
Retired (Desistant)			2	78	Adam Masłowiec Konrad Rutkowski	FSM Syrena 105
Retired (Desistant)			1	80	Volker Beyer Werner Schramm	Wartburg 353
Retired (Desistant)			1	81	Radoslav Petkov Kostadin Gurlev	Lada VAZ 2101
Retired (Desistant)			1	82	Adrian Margarint Nicolas Aslan	Dacia 1300
Retired (Desistant)			1	83	Ilija Bonev Zlati Zlatev	Lada VAZ 2101
Retired (Desistant)			1	84	György Szenttornyay László Szzenttornyay	Lada VAZ 2101
Retired (Desistant)			1	85	Iosif Santa Pavel Chiorcea	Dacia 1300
Retired (Desistant)			1	86	Béla Augustin Elek Farkas	Dacia 1300
Retired (Desistant)			1	87	Jerzy Strasz Halina Strasz	Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (Desistant)			1	89	Horst Niebergall Harald Würfel	Wartburg 353
Retired (Desistant)			1	90	Andrzej Włoch Marec Roczniak	Polski Fiat 125p
Retired (Desistant)			1	92	Tilo Wünsch Henning Wünsch	Fiat 128 Coupé

Source: Independent WRC archive,^[1] eWRC Results ^[2]

Championship standings after the event

1973 World Rally Championship for Manufacturers points standings after round 7

After round 6		Team	Season end
Position	Points		Position	Points
1	92	Alpine Renault	1	147
2	63	Fiat	2	84
3	33	Citroën	7	33
4	22	Datsun	6	34
5	20	Saab	5	42
6	16	Ford	3	76
7	15	Wartburg	14	15
8	14	Volkswagen	15	15
9	13	Lancia	13	17
10	13	Peugeot	16	13
11	12	Polski Fiat	12	18
12	8	Porsche	9	27
13	5	Opel	11	25
14	4	BMW	8	28
	4	Mitsubishi	17	4
	4	Volvo	4	44
17	3	Škoda	18	3
18	2	Toyota	10	25
19	1	Audi	20	2